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Tag: Combermere

It’s October, the spookiest month of the year and Halloween is only four weeks away. At Mary Evans Picture Library we have plenty of images to give you a good scare, thanks to our collection of several thousand images on the subject of the ‘paranormal’.

Co-founder of the library, Hilary Evans (1929-2011) was a leading voice and author on the paranormal and helped to co-found the Association for the Study of Anomalous Phenomena in 1981. Due to Hilary’s extensive research on the subject, the library amassed many thousands of images on all things otherworldly. In addition he also formed relationships with external paranormal collections which we continue to represent, including the renowned Harry Price Library of Magical Literature, which we exclusively represent along with other collections from independent paranormal investigators and collective societies.

Here are the top 10 most creepy and unsettling images from our paranormal archive, guaranteed to send a chill down your spine.

1.) The ghost of Raynham Hall, Norfolk. This figure is not seen but is unknowingly photographed on the staircase; it may be the ghost of Dorothy Walpole, known as ‘The Brown Lady’. The image was first published in the December 26 edition of Country Life Magazine 1936 and has since become one of the most famous ‘ghost photographs’ in the world to date.

Image courtesy of the Harry Price Library of Magical Literature, University of London.

2.) Phantom priest photographed in the church at Arundel, Sussex, date unknown. Image courtesy of the Harry Price Library of Magical Literature, University of London.

3.) Eastry Church Ghost, Kent, 1956. When Bank Manager Mr Bootman took this photograph of Eastry Church in 1956, he claims it was empty. Image courtesy of the Andrew Green collection.

4.) Ghosts on the Tulip Staircase of the Queen’s House, Greenwich, London 19 June 1966.

Figures photographed on the Tulip Staircase of the Queen’s House during normal opening hours of the museum, though the photographer saw nothing. This image was taken by Rev. R W Hardy of White Rock, British Columbia, Canada whilst on holiday in the UK. Image courtesy of Peter Underwood.

6.) Ghost of Lord Combermere 5 December 1981. Sybell Corbet’s photograph of the library at Combermere, taken between 2-3 pm, seems to show a figure, resembling Lord Combermere, at the time he was being buried. Image source: Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, vol V December 1895 page 167.

7.) Ancient Ram Inn Ghost, 5 June 1999. This photograph appears to show an apparition just before an ASSAP (Association for the Study of Anomalous Phenomena) night vigil at The Ancient Ram Inn, Wotton- Under-Edge, Gloucestershire. A murder was committed years earlier on this staircase. We like to fondly refer to this image as ‘The Malibu Ghost’! Image courtesy of Julie and Mark Hunt.

8.) Watertown Photo, 1924. When sailors Courtney and Meehan of American ship S.S. ‘Watertown’ are accidentally killed, then buried at sea, their faces are seen following the ship and photographed. Image source: Captain Tracy, the vessel’s captain, reproduced in Gaddis, ‘Invisible Horizons’.

9.) Ealing Ghost, date unknown. A figure seen at an upstairs windows of a house where murder and 20 suicides have taken place (possibly the ghost of Ann Hinchfield who killed herself in 1886). Image courtesy of the Andrew Green collection.

10.) Leeds Poltergeist, 1970. The photograph seems to show papers flying through the air. This was photographed during a case investigating the disturbance in the offices of Air Heating company, Leeds, centred around a 16-year old typist : the phenomena continued for six months. Image courtesy of the Andrew Green collection.